Question: Hi Doctor! Lately I've been experiencing some left-sided upper tooth, ear and jaw pain, and I did have a CT scan of my maxillofacial structures done, and am attaching a copy of the same. Today I just followed up with my ENT doctor, and she performed a full exam. She indicated that the mucous cyst and mucousal inflammation in the sphenoid and ethmoid sinuses on the left side could account for the left-sided pain which I am experiencing; I had actually visited my dentist two days ago and he also did a full exam and feels that my masseter and jaw muscles are extremely tight and constricted, and that could be causing the pain. My question, however, pertains to a lesion in my left nasal vestibule, which showed up on the scan and which my ENT looked at today. From what she could see, she indicated something about "inverted" and wants me to have it removed by an ENT surgeon. Apparently it is 11 by 5 mm. I have no pain in that area, no nosebleeds or congestion, etc. As a matter of fact, when I last visited the ENT three months ago, she did not even see it. Unfortunately, I cannot even get into the ENT surgeon for two and a half months. In the meantime, I saw there is something called an inverted papilloma and think that may be what she was referring to, and I saw that they can progress to squamous cell cancer and tend to reoccur even after removal. Obviously, we don't even know for sure what it is at this point, but I am super worried after googling some of these nasal cancers. Based upon my history, the CT scan report, and my lack of symptoms in my nasal area, is there any reassurance or information which you can give me? Also, my second question is this: I've had plantar warts on the soles of my feet for years now, and my podiatrist tried an autoimplantation therapy just this past January, in which she removed a tiny piece of the wart and transplanted it in the inside portion of my foot, hoping to trigger an immune response to attack the warts. Unfortunately, that doesn't appear to have succeeded, as I still have the warts. In frantically googling inverted papilloma I see that it may be caused by the HPV virus -- do you think the implantation therapy had anything to do with the lesion inside my nose? Thank you so very much!

Hi Dr. Christensen! I cannot thank you enough for your kind and reassuring answer! You have no idea how hearing from a real physician can put these fears into a rational perspective. The combination of having health anxiety and of googling these medical conditions is certainly not a good one! What made me quite nervous is reading online about how these inverted papillomas (again, my ENT suspects it is one, but I won't know for sure until it is removed by the surgeon and sent for pathology) can be quite aggressive and reoccur even after removal. I know you certainly cannot give me any guarantees, but based upon my history and the CT scan, would you say it appears to be in the early stages and can be removed fully (the surgeon whom I will be seeing is top notch)? Thank you again for your time and kindness!